Just half of all college-qualified students from low-income families enter a four-year college. Many lack role models with college degrees. (The Education Trust)

MEET ALUM CATALINA
The following is the alum keynote address delivered at our College Graduation Celebration July 20th.

Like many of you today, I’m celebrating my graduation. I just earned my masters in counseling and guidance from NYU. And like many of you, I’ve had to overcome quite a few obstacles to get to this point. The hardest ones I faced weren’t financial or logistical, although there were plenty of those. The hardest challenges I faced were doubts, both mine and from people around me. But after overcoming those doubts, I now feel like I can do anything.

I grew up in a neighborhood bordering USC and I always wanted to go to college. I didn’t know how to make that happen because no one in my family had gone to college. I became involved with the Fulfillment Fund in the tenth grade. They provided the extra push I needed.

My heart was set on going to UC Berkeley. It just felt like it was the right school for me. It was a place where I could expand my horizons. But the college counselor at my high school didn’t think I had a shot. My parents were always involved in my education and encouraged me in all of my decisions. But, they just couldn’t understand why I wanted to go so far away. I was lucky because I was able to turn to the Fulfillment Fund, where people like Sherry and Mireya convinced me that I should go ahead and apply.

One day I received a phone call saying I had been accepted. I hung up the phone and started jumping and screaming. Then I turned and saw my parents standing there -- no emotion on their faces. So I turned to the Fulfillment Fund again. My dad and I met with Fulfillment Fund staff and they explained why Berkeley was the right fit for me. Eventually my dad began to understand the wonderful opportunity I was given. His opinion has always meant a lot to me and I don’t think I could have gone against his wishes.

 The Fulfillment Fund helped my dad see my point of view. They opened the door for me to go to Berkeley. When I received my acceptance letter in the mail, I marched into my high school counselor office and slapped it down on his desk. It felt great to prove him wrong!

When I was in college, the Fulfillment Fund arranged an internship for me at the Liberty Hill Foundation. That’s where I realized how much I wanted to work for a nonprofit. I began investigating graduate schools and came across a program called Counseling and Community Organizations. The only problem was -- it was at New York University. It was hard enough to convince my family to let me go to northern California. This time I had to break the news that I would be going 3,000 miles away. Knowing that he would miss his only daughter, my dad tried to entice me with a used car if I stayed close by.

Well, I went to NYU anyway. I had my heart set on becoming a school counselor. I knew from my experience with the Fulfillment Fund that I could have a tremendous impact on students.
With advice from Sherry, I completed my practicum in the south Bronx. Working with students there confirmed why I wanted to go into counseling. I will soon be putting all of this experience to work. I have just been hired by Animo Watts 2 High School as their counselor. I hope to have the same positive impact on students as Sherry and Mireya had on me.

So after all of that work -- I ended up very close to where I started. But to get there -- I had to travel up the coast and across the country. I had to go against my parents’ wishes and my school counselor’s doubts. I had to stay true to my vision.